Postcards From the Other Side of the Mirror
by Nimbiose
Summary: Glimpses of a world in which Mary Campbell does not agree to Azazel's deal to save John's life, and Heaven and Hell have to make new plans. Several chess pieces are about to change.
1. Mary

**Postcards From the Other Side of the Mirror**

**Rating.** PG-13  
**Warnings.** Spoilers for most of the series.  
**Disclaimer.** Supernatural is Kripke's and the CW's.  
**Summary.** Glimpses of a world in which Mary Campbell does not agree to Azazel's deal to save John's life, and Heaven and Hell have to make new plans. Several chess pieces are about to change.

**A/N.** hello supernatural fandom, i'm a recently converted member. i finished marathoning the show about a month ago. although i absolutely adore the main ensemble of characters, there were several minor characters whom i felt were not fully explored, and small plot-holes which i could abuse to do so. case in point, the premise of this entire fic: an alternation of canon wherein Mary says no to Azazel. i'm not doing a full-out epic here, just giving brief glimpses to the life of some side characters with one small change to the overall story. please enjoy and feel free to correct any mistakes!

* * *

"No,"

"No? Are you sure?"

Mary hesitated for just a moment, glancing down at the man she held in her arms, at the man she loved, at the man who was dead and refused to save. When she raised her eyes again, staring head-on at the yellow eyes on not-her-father's face, she was determined.

"No," she confirmed.

The change in not-her-father was immediate. Gone was the cockiness, the swagger and sense of self-assurance that was so predominant in demons when facing humans. Instead, its borrowed face morphed into an expression she had never seen on her father, and expression of pure fury and anger, contorting muscles until it did not even vaguely resemble a human, much less her father.

She thinks that's probably why she felt much better about throwing holy water at its face and then watching it recoil, hissing in pain. Cradling John Winchester's dead body to her chest, she prepared herself for a good cry. She was owed one, after all. She was therefore quite put out when the yellow-eyed creature inhabiting her father's (dead) body once more interrupted her, this time to hiss at her face. It was very unimpressive, not to mention intrusive.

What was more impressing and damaging were the claws it dug into her arms, causing her to cry out and throw more holy water at it. Amidst it's cries of pain as she continued her holy water assault, she began to make some sense of its words.

"I curse you, Mary Campbell, for wrecking all the carefully laid out plans, for being so goddamn stubborn, to live alone among humans, to never age and watch as all that you ever love dies!"

Fed up, Mary soaked her handy switchblade in holy water and stabbed not-her-father repeatedly. Finally, the yellow eyes were replaced with her father's empty, dead stare, and she stopped her brutal attack. Her breaths were coming out in short pants, and she realized belatedly that she was probably having some kind of panic attack. Within moments, she had broken down crying over the bodies of the two men she loved most, unaware of how many careful years of planning by both celestial and demonic beings she had just thrown out the window.

**-o-**

In the days following the funerals, Mary Campbell removed herself from most of the society of Lawrence, Kansas. She stayed put in her family's home, going out only to get the essentials since she refused to be the centre of gossip. Not that she could do much about that, the attack of a still-at-large psychopath on her family and boyfriend was the most exciting thing that had happened in the little town since the Mayor's unexpected death two years ago.

Eventually, after two months of sympathetic stares and whispers everywhere she went, Mary could not take it anymore. She sold her parents home and everything in it, keeping nothing save her clothes and weapons, and hit the road in John's Chevy Impala.

**-o-**

"Get down!" the man yelled.

Mary, of course, did the opposite. Throwing herself at the snarling, point-toothed figure, she exchanged blows until, through a skillful kick to its privates and dumb luck, she cleanly cut its head off. She allowed herself to relax under the corpse, ignoring the blood probably ruining her clothes, and took in large gulps of air as she came down from her adrenaline high.

The body on top of hers was thrown off by a man, who took one look at her, shook his head, and said,

"You're one crazy girl, Miss Campbell,"

Mary grinned, bubbly laughter following, as she took his offered hand. Allowing herself to be pulled up, she looked around the room. Three beheaded bodies, blood on the walls and a thankful group of civilians huddled in a corner. All in a days work.

"You're pretty crazy yourself, Elkins," she finally said, once they had sent the civilians home and buried the bodies.

The man chuckled and shook his head, his disagreement obvious.

"So, vampires huh?"

"Vampires, miss,"

**-o-**

Mary didn't know why it kept happening, just that it did. Every new town she went to, even if she was just passing by or seriously considering settling in, seemed to be afflicted by some supernatural trouble. She had saved more civilians in the past three years than she had in her entire life with her dad, and wasn't that a scary thought.

She was fully convinced that every supernatural being was somehow attuned to her and every time she arrived at a new destination made sure to be extra crazy for her sake. Not that she minded, it gave her something to do, something she was good at now that all hopes of a stable, quiet family life had been dashed with John Winchester's death.

**-o-**

It wasn't long before the rest of the Campbell clan tracked her and all but forced her to join them. The first time, Mary made small talk with her family and then joined them on a hunt, but then politely declined the invitation and went on her way.

When she ran into them a second time, they all laughed and talked about coincidences. By the fifth time, Mary was getting tired. By the tenth time, she was actively trying to avoid them and was hiding her tracks.

It was the thirteenth time, several years later, after she had managed to keep them away with a shapeshifter that had changed into her when it died, that she decided to formally nip the family relationship.

She fought them until they couldn't get up anymore, and then very calmly explained that she wanted absolutely nothing to do with them, that she was only in the hunting business because she had people to avenge and that she was cursed and not interested in being their curse-guinea pig. The explanation was driven home by her nonchalantly playing around with a machete.

They stopped bothering her after that.

**-o-**

Mary might not have been the smartest girl in her class, but she was a hunter, and a Campbell, and therefore far from stupid.

She noticed how Elkins, Harvelle, Bobby and Rufus – the hunters she knew best and trusted most, although she remained a lone wolf – aged while she remained young and beautiful. While at first she had attributed it to genetics, when fifteen years had gone by and she looked exactly the same as she did on that fateful day when she resigned herself to John's death, she figured something was wrong.

Recalling the yellow-eyed demon's last words to her, the curse which she had filed away in her brain as mere demon intimidation, she was forced to look at it with new eyes. Neither Bobby nor Elkins, both having amassed large collections on the supernatural, commented when she began to borrow books on curses. In a similar vein, Mary never commented when they left her books or went to the length of finding some for her on purpose. The fact that she never seemed to age was also carefully ignored.

As far as hunters were concerned, they each had their own problems, their own demons to battle and unless they asked for help, no one would force it on anyone.

**-o-**

Around the time Harvelle settled down with a family, Elkins became a recluse – well, more than usual. His obsession on vampires grew to new levels, and he stopped talking almost to all of them. Mary still visited him occasionally, even if it was painful to watch him age and descend into near-lunacy.

As for Harvelle, Mary was insanely jealous and proud. To step away from the hunting life had often been regarded as impossible, but he seemed to have managed.

At least until he crawled to Bobby's one day when Mary was visiting and Bobby was out, to spill on the fact that he had just made a deal with a yellow-eyed demon to save his wife's life. Mary, to her credit, barely flinched, and Harvelle, in his current state, thankfully didn't notice. Once he had had enough drinks and calmed down, Mary asked him what the demon had wanted in return.

Harvelle had stared at her, eyes glassy and empty, before choking back a sad laugh and revealing,

"He didn't say, but I can't say it wasn't worth me going to hell if that is what will happen, Ellen deserves life,"

Mary quietly agreed and stayed with him until he left, composed and sober. When Bobby returned the next day, he found her pensively sitting on the couch, an old, black tome he had confiscated from a book seller once open in her lap. He had never managed to open it himself, and the language, from what he could see of it, was closer to chicken scratch than anything he'd ever seen. Obviously something big had happened.

"What happened?" he asked, breaking her out of her stupor. Mary blinked at him, surprised at his presence and that was unnerving as hell, she was the best, youngest hunter out of all of them and thus had the best senses. It had to have been something huge to distract her pretty much born hunter instincts.

"Nothing,"

Obviously, Bobby was not going to find out what had happened. Figures.

**-o-**

The same year Harvelle died was the year Elkins made contact with her after some time. By now, Mary had grown tired of the necessity of moving all the time as a result of her curse, and was trying to find ways to settle down somewhere.

When she heard of the Harvelle family fire, it was from Rufus. The possibility of Harvelle, an attuned hunter, to have died from something such as a fire in his child's nursery – a fire that had been mostly self-contained to said nursery – did not sit well with any of them. But the trail of clues ran cold in the Harvelle's home.

Mary made sure to introduce Ellen to Bobby, and then gave Bobby instructions to look after both her and her daughter. She then went back to hunting and researching with renewed vigour. She could feel the slight changes in the air which indicated something big was coming, that chess pieces were being moved and key players were appearing. But she did not know what was coming or how to prepare for it.

It was when she was finishing up one of her hunts that Elkins called her. Mary was surprised, and did not keep the surprise and slight aggravation hidden.

"What, you decided not to creepily obsess over vampires?"

"Shut up Campbell, I have a situation,"

"I miss the days when you called me miss,"

"Campbell I told you I have a situation-"

"Why Elkins, it sounds like you're asking for a favour, but the big, bad, lonely vampire hunter would never need my help now would he?"

"Campbell I'm serious-"

"Maybe if you say please I'll-"

"Campbell I have a child!"

"..."

"Campbell?"

"Who did you blackmail to sleep with you?"

"That's not what- oh, just come over and look at it will you,"

And because Mary would never leave a child to someone like Elkins, Mary went.

'It' proved to be a young girl, barely a few months older than Harvelle's girl, who was giddy and well-mannered. Mary cooed at her while Elkins stared at them helplessly, holding what appeared to be a baby bottle and a soft toy. She turned to him after a while, the baby slowly falling asleep in her arms.

"Since I can't believe this little angel came from _you_, I want to know what house you stole her from and why,"

"Campbell I didn't _steal_ her, why on earth would I want to steal a baby?"

"You've done crazier things tracking vampires," Mary shrugged, then her eyes narrowed, "you don't think she's some kind of vampire baby and were planning to kill her but are now regretting it because she's gorgeous and innocent?"

"What? No! Vampires can't _have _babies as far as I know, and isn't that a scary thought but – that's not the point!" Elkins huffed, voice raised slightly causing the baby to stir in Mary's arms. She cooed softly at it, lulling it back to sleep, turning back to Elkins with judgement in her eyes.

"Then what _is _the point, Elkins?"

"The point...the points is I don't know what to do with her," Elkins sighed, taking a seat, "I saved her from a vengeful family spirit, but I couldn't save her parents, so here we are..."

Mary nodded, understanding, humming lightly to ease the baby into a deeper slumber.

"Her mother died entrusting her to me, and I can't even figure out how to give her milk," Elkins sat back, and air of defeat surrounding him.

Mary gazed at him sadly, and sat down next to him, the baby still cradled in the safety of her arms. Elkins stared back, sad smile in place, as he said,

"You would have been a good mother, you know...you're obviously cut out for it, it's a pity that-"

He cut himself off, flinching and staring resolutely at the floor. Mary didn't say anything, but silently nodded in understanding, unseen by him. She had wanted to be a good mother, to lead a normal life and have children, preferably girls but she wouldn't have minded boys if they were anything like John. Now though, it was completely out of the question.

"I know, why don't you take care of her? You're already bonding, maternal instinct and all that," Mary's eyes snapped right back to Elkins. He shrank back slightly under her disaproving eyes.

"What?"

"You said yourself that her mother asked _you _to take care of her, you're not dumping this on me,"

"Oh come _on_, Campbell! You can't be serious! You know what a mess I am, I couldn't possibly-"

"Yes, you can, and you will," Mary stood, shushing the baby in her arms, before critically analyzing Elkins' house, "you're obviously going to have to make some changes to take care of her, like a nursery and less time on the job, but you'll do fine,"

"No, no, I won't, I'll go away on hunts and who will stay with her then-"

"You'll bring her over to me, I'm opening an inn, besides, she'll need some female guidance in her life and I'm fully prepared to offer it,"

"You're...opening an inn? Settling down? Where? How can you even do that with...you know?" he gestured to her youthful figure.

"Oh, don't you worry about that, you just bring little Jess here over to me and I'll make sure to keep her fed and up-to-date with everything she needs to know as a growing girl," she grinned at the baby, "and I was thinking of setting up on the outskirts of Lawrence, nothing really happens there anyway, they won't notice one new inn far away enough from the main plaza, I can be Mary Campbell's younger cousin,"

"Jess?"

"Yup, she's a Jess, aren't you?"

Elkins promptly gave up arguing when the baby cooed back to Mary, apparently enchanted with her hair.

"And Elkins?"

"What? Any baby surnames I should know about? A christening?"

"Don't be jealous, it doesn't suit you," she chastised, not even glancing at him, "give her a chance at a life outside of hunting, she can still make the choice, but let her make it herself,"

"You didn't have to tell me that, I wouldn't do it any other way," the two seasoned hunters shared a look, before the baby began to babble and then they both promptly began to concern themselves with feeding her.

**-o-**

Mary bought a property in the outskirts of Lawrence, Kansas, which came complete with an attached barn and farmland. She quickly organized herself into making it look like a picturesque, family inn, and avoided Lawrence itself for as long as possible. When the sign proudly proclaiming Campbell's Inn finally went up, she resigned herself and went to the town.

She introduced herself as a far-off relative of the Campbell's, and was relieved when she found out most people seemed to have forgotten her. A few commented on her remarkable likeness to Mary Campbell, which she stated was a family name, and then ignored her existence completely. Mary was quite happy with the arrangement, and was soon settled in quite nicely.

Her inn was a nice enough place, and both civilians and hunters would stop by to rest. Mary herself was still up for the occasional hunt, but nowadays she devoted herself mostly to the inn and researching. The yellow-eyed demon was a constant nightmare.

**-o-**

In retrospect, Mary was not sure how Bobby kept Ellen in the dark for so long. Harvelle had married her, so she was an exceptionally insightful and intelligent woman, after all. Both Ellen and her daughter, Jo, thus learned some tricks for self-defence, but at the insistence of Ellen did not hunt themselves. They stayed with Bobby, who went on less hunts and was mostly an informant and cover for several hunters, Ellen adjusting to a new life and Jo going to school.

Mary had the interesting experience of watching Jo and Jess grow parallel to each other: one fully in the know of the world of hunting, capable and quite good at it under Elkins' and Mary's careful tutelage, and the other fumbling through it without much knowledge since both the adults in her life were against it.

Inevitably, the two girls met when they became teens, and hit it off promptly, sharing bizarre stories anybody outside of their world would be hard-pressed to follow. Slowly, Mary realized she had gained her own sort of family, and was desperate to keep it safe and protected. Thus, she offered both girls hunting lessons, and was pretty sure Bobby turned a blind eye.

**-o-**

It was years later, some months after Elkins died leading to Jess dropping out and Jo had left Bobby's home to become a hunter, that Mary saw both girls fully grown again. They had both turned out beautiful, and, to Mary's chagrin, into hunters.

But as the girls that she had come to think of as her own crowded her doorway, going inside and immediately talking about the Colt, fires in nurseries, a gateway to Hell and a yellow-eyed demon, Mary allowed herself a smirk.

Having amassed quite a lot of information on yellow-eyes, she was not surprised with some of the stories they told her, but some of them were also completely new. Either way, something big was happening, the pieces were moving and everything would soon come to light.

As she closed her inn and guided the girls towards the Impala, gun in hand, Mary allowed herself another shit-eating grin.

The hunt was afoot. And the prey was one nasty, yellow-eyed demon.

* * *

**A/N.** this is waaaay longer than i thought it would be. i will be re-reading tomorrow morning, my time, and correcting any glaring mistakes. um, please do not expect all the chapters to be the same length, i merely let go and allowed myself to write as much as i wanted to set Mary's background and to cover my bases. the next chapter will probably centre on Jess and growing up with Elkins, going to college, his death, the Colt, meeting up with Jo, etc.

again, these are only glimpses of this alternate take on canon. i will try to make it so they make sense, and i might revisit some of the characters (Mary, for example), but i will limit myself within the chapter to a single character's journey, much like i did here.

at the moment i do not know what the length of this fic will be. i want to end when they stop the apocalypse, so S5, but i don't know if i'll get there – i rather doubt it, i have a bad track record with overachieving chaptered fics, partly why i'm doing glimpses.

anyway, please let me know what you think, reviews regarding characterization and the idea itself are much encouraged!


	2. Jess

**Postcards From the Other Side of the Mirror**

**Rating. **PG-13  
**A/N.** for the disclaimer and possible warnings, please refer to the first chapter. anyway, it's Jess' turn now, comments on characterization much appreciated.

* * *

Jessica Elkins was four when she first really realized her daddy wasn't like other dads. For one thing, he really didn't like it when she called him daddy, even though that's what all her friends in the neighbourhood called their daddies.

But because he was her daddy, she had to do what he said.

He then became Uncle Elkins. He supposed that would have to do.

**-o-**

Jessica didn't start resenting him until she was seven. Up until then, Uncle Elkins' constant trips simply meant she stayed over at a friends house or at Mrs. Brown's until he came back. It was fun, having more time to spend with friends or in Mrs. Brown's company (she was an amazing cook and made the best cookies Jessica had ever had), but eventually she became irritated, jealous of her friends having parents – mommies and daddies – who were always there.

She became distant from her Uncle whenever he came back, but he never seemed to notice.

Sometimes, though, when he actually stayed home, they would stay up late and go up to the roof, where they would gaze at the stars while he told her stories about scary monsters that would always be defeated by those who hunter them.

Jessica always imagined it was her Uncle who hunted the monsters, because he knew so much about it. She would only find out later how right she was.

**-o-**

When she was eight they had a project about jobs, and what everyone wanted to be when they grew up. As part of the project, they had to ask their parents about their jobs.

When Jessica got home that afternoon, she had no way of predicting the fight she'd get into with her Uncle. He insisted that he go over everything she wrote, saying it was to check her spelling but Jessica didn't believe him. Uncle Elkins was especially unsettled when he found out she had decided she wanted to be a hunter when she grew up.

"Like the ones that hunt monsters in your stories, Uncle!"

And that got an even more unexpected reaction as he promptly grabbed all of the papers Jessica had carefully laid out and threw them in the trash.

Jessica cried for a very long time, having run into her room and diving at the mattress. Her entire project was ruined and it was due tomorrow! She couldn't present, she didn't have anything!

Uncle Elkins came by later with dinner after a long talk over the phone with someone Jessica didn't know, and the two went up to the roof to look at the stars. For the first time, everything was quiet as they did this. Usually, the air would be filled with Uncle Elkins' storytelling and Jessica's questions, but tonight it was quiet.

Finally, Uncle Elkins spoke,

"How about being a lawyer instead? I know it sounds boring but at least you get new clothes more often,"

Jessica held it in for all of five seconds before breaking into raucous laughter. She was soon joined by her Uncle, and in minutes they had dissolved into giggles, forgetting why they were laughing in the first place.

When Jessica got her score back for the project her Uncle and her had put together in a night, she ran to let him know that she'd got full marks.

**-o-**

Jessica found out about her Uncle's job when she was eleven.

It was pretty unavoidable, especially since Mrs. Brown was actually a pagan god who had been kidnapping the children of the neighbourhood to cook them into pies for some years. Jessica was never able to read Hansel and Gretel again without going slightly nauseous.

She had gotten curious after she had noticed several of the kids that had been missing over the years had had Mrs. Brown as their caretaker, and had snooped around her house one time when her Uncle left her. Of all the things she had expected to find, it was not a bunch of weakened missing kids trapped in a cage in Mrs. Brown's basement.

"Oh, what do we have here? A curious little kitten? Well, this simply will not do, now will it?"

Jessica didn't even make it to the window – she was grabbed from her shirt's neckline by a monster, and all the screaming and crying and kicking did nothing to stop her from getting thrown into a cage herself.

"Now, now, be quiet little kitten, I think I'll have you for dinner today – you are much more plump than any of the other little tykes,"

She sobbed as she heard Mrs. Brown's voice. The monster cackled, and then left, making sure all possible exits were locked.

Jessica curled herself into a ball, crying quietly, thinking this was it.

Two hours later, the basement door was kicked open, and her Uncle was soon holding her tightly as she cried and cried. The other children were also let out of their cages, running to their respective homes and not saying anything.

Mrs. Brown was found dead in her living room, a tree branch having stabbed straight through her heart. The killer was still at large.

In more pleasant news, several of the kids which had been kidnapped returned to their homes, which led the authorities to believe that Mrs. Brown's murderer and the kidnapper were the same person.

Several of the families soon moved out from what had once been a relatively peaceful neighbourhood. In the chaos, no one took notice of the Elkins' home being emptied from one day to the next.

**-o-**

Jessica met Mary Campbell when she was twelve.

After begging and begging, her Uncle finally decided she might as well learn some tricks of the trade to be able to defend herself. He had also stopped trusting caretakers all together, and thus had begun taking Jessica with him everywhere. However, he was still uncomfortable taking her on the more difficult hunts, but soon realized he couldn't simply leave her in the motel room of the week.

This was when he remembered Mary's offer, and decided to take her up on it.

"Hey, Jessica, I'm Mary," Mary had smiled at her, youthful feature but old eyes.

"You're pretty, I wanna be pretty like you," Jessica had blurted. The two seasoned hunters had blinked and laughed heartily.

For Jessica, Mary was mother, sister and best friend all rolled into one. She had never really had an older female influence, and Mary was the perfect fit for the job.

Whenever her Uncle had a case that would take more than a few days, he'd first drive up to Lawrence and leave Jessica in Mary's care. The hunters and few families that visited Mary's Inn were fond of Jessica, whom Mary introduced as her niece.

During the day, Jessica would help out Mary with running the Inn, collecting eggs from chickens and helping the kitchen. Sometimes, she'd even greet the guests, who were often charmed and amused at the diligent little girl who would hand out room keys and order around the rest of the small staff (read: one other person).

In the afternoons, when visitors were usually out, Mary would take Jessica out to the barn and teach her how to shoot and how to fight. While many would have argued about it being too early or unnecessary (indeed, that had been part of her Uncle's reasons for keeping everything a secret), Mary figured that once your eyes were open to the fact that monsters in the closet were very real, it made you feel at least a little bit safer to know how to defend yourself. Jessica was inclined to agree.

**-o-**

Jessica met Jo when she was fourteen.

By then, she had already become Jess, was well-known to hunters as the "girl at Campbell's Inn" and had been attending school at Lawrence for some time. While she took to the hunting life easily, and sometimes joined either her Uncle or Mary on the easier hunts, Jessica was also doing well in school and slowly gaining friends. She often took sick leaves because she would go hunting with her Uncle, something she was beginning to insist on because she realized her grew old and did need help, yet she still managed to keep high grades and a steady circle of friends.

She knew neither her Uncle nor Mary would force the hunting life on her – indeed, her Uncle was actually rather against it altogether despite his tough reputation amongst hunters; she was, after all, his little girl – and she was very thankful and aware of the fact that the decision had been left up to her.

That didn't mean Jess had an easy life. She still had trouble connecting to some of her school friends sometimes, especially when they made comments that made her cringe.

Meeting Jo was a bit of a reprieve from her sometimes air headed friends. After all, Jo was another teenage girl who had been faced with a life of hunting.

Jess didn't know her full story – wouldn't know it until later years – but she did know that Jo and her mother Ellen had not been made aware of the world of hunting until Ellen confronted Jess' Uncle Bobby about several events that did not add up. Uncle Bobby caved, sat them both down, and explained everything he and Jo's father, Mr. Harvelle, had ever known and done. Despite the fact that they both now knew the truth, Ellen had no interest in the life – indeed, considering that it was arguably part of the reason her husband was dead, it was surprising she did not abhor it – and firmly stuck to the basics. She strictly prohibited Jo from becoming a hunter herself, and although she knew about Uncle Bobby and that she couldn't stop him, she did start keeping tabs on him.

It wasn't difficult. The Harvelle's had moved to Uncle Bobby's town a couple of days after Mr. Harvelle's death, and had then slowly migrated over to Uncle Bobby's house.

Jess always found it rather funny that Uncle Bobby didn't realize he had gained a family until they were already permanent residents in his house. It was one of the reasons why very few hunters stopped over at his house anymore, preferring to call him rather than facing Ellen and a cup of coffee that would seriously make them reconsider their profession.

Eventually, however, Ellen agreed that Jo and herself at the very least needed basic training, and Uncle Bobby had brought them over to Lawrence to meet Mary. While Ellen and Mary were initially at odds, Jo and Jess hit it off from the get-go. In the three months that the Harvelle's stayed at Campbell's Inn, the two girls became inseparable partners-in-crime, and did everything together, from training to watching movies to playing pranks on the visiting hunters.

Jo came to love Mary much like Jess did, as she oversaw their training but also helped them play pranks occasionally. While Jess had grown, Mary's role had slowly shifted to that of a doting and encouraging older sister. Ellen became a loving, if stern mother figure for Jess too, who had never really met anyone like the older woman. Slowly, Jess' family had expanded from her and Uncle Elkins to include her sisters Jo and Mary, her Uncles Rufus and Bobby, and her mother Ellen.

When it came time for them to leave, Jo and Jess promised to keep in touch. Mary and Ellen were still slightly at odds, but they had managed to overcome it a bit and at the very least had grown to respect each other greatly.

In the coming years as the girls matured into young adults, they would constantly keep in touch and visit each other when possible. It was not an exaggeration to say that the girls were sisters in all but blood.

**-o-**

When Jess was eighteen, she graduated from high school as valedictorian and got a full-ride to Stanford.

No one that knew her was surprised, and her Uncle Elkins was insanely proud and happy for her. When she called Uncle Bobby's house to tell them, they were all happy too, although Jess noted a slight tone of reproach from Jo.

"What's up?" was the first thing she said when she called Jo's cellphone later that night.

"What do you mean- Jess do you even know what time it is?"

"Yeah, way too late, but you didn't sound too happy today so hey, here I am," although Jo couldn't see her, Jess shrugged.

"It was- it was nothing, Jess, really, don't worry," Jo sighed.

"Aha! You're sighing! Is it boy trouble, Jo? I bet it's boy trouble, don't worry, I've heard they're supposed to get better in college, and I'll be able to confirm or deny that for you soon!" Jess grinned when she heard Jo's slight chuckles. Jo was a year younger than her, and thus still in high school for another year.

"No it isn't boy trouble Jess it's just..." Jo took a deep breath, "I've been thinking about running away after high school,"

"What?" Jess sat straight up in her bed, as if stung, "why?"

"Oh no, you think it's a bad idea, I can tell...well you're not talking me out of this one, Jess,"

"I'm not talking anyone out of anything Jo, I just want to know why you're thinking about becoming some runaway teen cliche...are you eloping?" Jess tried for humour again, but it has a halfhearted attempt and they both knew it.

"No, no, of course not! I'm..." Jo bit her lip, "I'm going to become a hunter, Jess, a proper one,"

"Wait, wait, Jo, no, this is a bad idea, a bad idea completely, if this is an attempt to avenger your father or something you know that-"

"No!" Jess was surprised at the exasperation in Jo's voice, "No, Jess, it's not revenge or anything...well, not totally anyway, it's just...my calling, I guess,"

"Your calling," Jess' tone was decidedly deadpan.

"Yes, Jess, I know you think it's stupid and irrational, I mean you could have been a hunter but you're going to Stanford instead, I get it, it's not for you but...but I feel like it is for me," it was Jo's determined tone of voice that convinced Jess.

"I would try to talk you out of it – in fact I probably will in the next year, I'll call you and tell you about how awesome college is as much as I can but...it doesn't sound like you'll be budging, huh?" Jess sulked, flopping down onto her pillows.

"No, I don't think I will...and of course you can try to talk me out of it, just please...don't tell my mom, Jess?" Jo chuckled humourlessly.

"Hey, what are friends for, right?" Jess voice cracked lightly, as she realized that this was effectively Jo signing up for a life of hardships and a constant battle for her life.

"Thanks Jess, really, I'll miss you but I'm so happy for you, Stanford is a huge deal," Jo's smile, had Jess seen it, would have been marred not only by her uneven voice but by her watery eyes.

"Hey now, let's not start crying, you know when I get going I don't stop, and we'll still see each other when I go back for holidays this year, right?" Jess tried as best she could, but couldn't hide her sobs.

"Yeah, of course," Jo croaked out, her throat feeling stuffy and as if it were fool of wool, "bye, Jess,"

"Bye, Jo," Jess whispered minutes later, when Jo had already hung up.

**-o-**

As per her promises, when Jess was nineteen, she often called Jo to tell her about the ups and downs of college life, always hoping, but never allowing herself to believe, that she could change her mind. Jo responded enthusiastically and told stories of her own senior year in high school, of Ellen and Bobby. They saw each other one last time for a Christmas gathering at Campbell's Inn, before Jess went off to finish her first year and Jo graduated.

When Jo left behind the Singer household, leaving nothing but a note, her mother was in uproar. She called up every hunter they knew to find out if they were harbouring her daughter, but they all replied negative, although they promised to keep an eye out.

"No, Ellen, I haven't seen her...no, I didn't know about this, and if I did do you think I wouldn't have told you?...what do you mean you think that's exactly what'd I do? I'm hurt, you're practically my mom I thought you trusted- yeah okay, I'll quit being such a drama queen...yeah, I'll be on the lookout and let you know if she comes here...okay, bye Ellen!" Jess put down the phone, and sighed.

"Sorry about that,"

Jess looked up at the voice, "It's unavoidable Jo, you know that...I don't really think she believe me anyway,"

"Probably not, but I'll be gone soon," Jo shrugged, "now, show me around campus, your apartment gets boring after a while,"

Jess chuckled, picking up the keys to her new apartment and locking the door behind them.

**-o-**

When Jess was twenty-one, she dropped out of college.

Jo often stopped by between hunts to see Jess, at least until she began her studies in earnest. When college life soon became embroiled with work life and a love life, Jo distanced herself, reminding Jess that she had left the hunter life and therefore should have no reminders. Jo assured her that she respected her decision and would slowly remove herself from her life altogether.

Jess didn't know what this meant until one day she realized she hadn't heard from Jo in over five months. She then noticed she also hadn't heard from anyone in the hunter community other than her Uncle Elkins in the same amount of time.

Studying for pre-law and breaking up with her two-year boyfriend had taken up a lot of her mind lately, and she was just a bit ashamed of herself for not noticing the absence of the people she had grown up with.

It was a couple of days later that a letter arrived from Uncle Elkins, and a phone call informed her of his death. Reading the letter several times until she memorized its contents, Jess, burned it in a fire, packed up her belongings, finished all her assignments, turned them in and left for Manning, Colorado to find a gun.

Running into Jo again was pretty much unavoidable after that.

* * *

**A/N. **as i said earlier, comments on characterization much appreciated, particularly in relation to Jess' relationships, especially Jo and Elkins in this case. anything else you might want to comment on would also be appreciated.

also, this obviously ends in a different place in the timeline of events than Mary's chapter. most likely Jo's chapter will tie them both together.

thank you for your time, i hope you enjoyed, and once again, comments of any sort are lovely.


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